Volume 9: The Days Can’t Be Lived Anymore
Red Moon
Dad, I’m hungry
Boss Huo continued: “Maybe so. We’ll be a little more careful. We’re already so close to the exit, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Xing Tian said with a laugh: “You’d better not set up that kind of flag1.”
Boss Huo: “It was my mistake, hahaha.”
The two of them chatted quite congenially, talking and laughing all along the way, very relaxed and pleasant.
Boss Huo asked him: “Where are you all from? Why did you suddenly come to challenge the maze?”
Xing Tian said: “We all live in the residential complex on the southernmost side. The reason we came over to take this risk is because the ghosts and monsters on the south side seem to have undergone some kind of strange transformation.”
Lou Jingmo’s curiosity was piqued, and her gaze fell upon the two people who were conversing.
Boss Huo raised an eyebrow: “What do you mean?”
Xing Tian: “We discovered that the time the ghosts and monsters appear seems to be increasing little by little. I still remember when Lost Paradise was first established, the ghosts and monsters went to work at eight in the evening and got off work at five in the morning. After such a long time has passed, their work and off-work times have completely reversed, and moreover, the duration each day is increasing bit by bit, so we all had the idea of leaving.”
“Some people believed in their own abilities, and some people didn’t want to go on living on tenterhooks2 like this anymore—in short, regardless, we gathered together and began to prepare for leaving.”
Shen Maomao asked: “Why didn’t you guys go to the maze on the south side?”
Chai Jinhang chimed in: “I have the right to speak on this question. At the time, it was me who went to investigate the vicinity, and I discovered that the entrance to the southern maze was gone.”
“Gone??”
As everyone knows, the maze has many entrances. All roads lead to Rome; none of them are complete dead ends. If one way doesn’t work, you just have to switch to another.
“Yes, just gone.” Chai Jinhang nodded. “I rode a bicycle along the corner of the great surrounding wall for two hours and still couldn’t find a single entrance. There were hard walls everywhere, with no traces of being artificially blocked up. Moreover, the maze town on the south side has also been abandoned. Recently, we haven’t heard any news of a large population movement; the residents inside are as if they’ve vanished into thin air.”
The southern maze had closed all its entrances for some reason. They didn’t know this reason, but from the bottom of their hearts, they could faintly feel a trace of unease. Combined with the matter of the townspeople’s inexplicable disappearance, that feeling of unease reached its peak.
Thus, after making sufficient preparations, they immediately set out with their luggage, heading in a northeasterly direction. They first went to the east side to try their luck, only to discover that the east side unexpectedly had no entrance either, and then they circuitously came to the north side.
In the end, Xing Tian said: “We originally held no hope at all. We didn’t expect that the northern entrance actually hadn’t closed yet. What about you all? Where did you come from?”
Boss Huo replied: “Similar to you. My son has Yin-Yang Eyes3, and I want to give him a more normal childhood. After thinking it over and over, I still decided to take a risk.”
He said he lived in the middle of the entire southern region and had also gone south first, only to find the southern exit was sealed shut. Then, by deducing from the time gap between the appearance and disappearance of the ghosts and monsters, he inferred that the strange transformation in the north was slightly less severe, and so he brought his son north all the way.
He didn’t mention how a weak chicken4 like himself had made it all this way while raising a child. Xing Tian thought he was an evolver who didn’t show his mountains or reveal his water5, so he didn’t ask much more.
Shen Maomao got hot from walking. She took off her hat to feel the cold wind for a while, only putting the ice-cold hat back on her head after her hair strands had frozen.
Xing Tian and Boss Huo chatted for a while, then he suddenly said with emotion: “I have a kind of inexpressible feeling; it seems like Lost Paradise is about to become a sealed-off city.”
If it really comes to that time, I’m afraid that aside from a small portion of highly skilled evolvers, the rest of humanity will all head towards extinction.
The sun gradually sank in the west, and the sky darkened. The surrounding visibility decreased at a speed visible to the naked eye. The blood-colored sunset dyed half the sky red. Birds of an unnamable species flew into the sky against the cold wind, letting out one mournful, sharp cry after another.
Everything in the surroundings was covered in a layer of greasy yellow. Xing Tian clearly grew tense and stopped chatting with Boss Huo, holding his weapon and nervously guarding the surroundings.
A man in his team said: “There’s still some distance to the exit. We might have to travel a stretch of the road at night.”
Xing Tian didn’t really want to travel at night: “Traveling at night is too dangerous. How about we find a safe place to rest for a night?”
Shen Maomao said: “There are no safe places in the maze. Resting is, on the contrary, even more dangerous. It would be better to get out of here in one go6.”
The man said: “She’s right. This place isn’t like the outside. And if the temperature suddenly drops in the middle of the night, we could freeze to death here.”
Xing Tian looked at Boss Huo and asked: “What about you? What do you think?”
Boss Huo had not yet exposed the fact that he was a good-for-nothing. Upon hearing this, he pretended to think for two seconds and said: “I also feel that continuing forward is a bit more reliable.”
Xing Tian then asked for the opinions of his several teammates. After getting everyone’s agreement, he made the final decision: “Then let’s continue forward.”
The sky grew darker and darker, and the several of them turned on their flashlights one after another.
However, the flashlights could only illuminate a stretch of the road at their7 feet. In the darkness, there seemed to be something that was constantly staring at them, causing their footsteps to quicken involuntarily.
Huo Dongdong was lying on Boss Huo’s back, craning his neck to try and peek outside the surrounding wall. The distant city lit up with specks of light, looking very much like the individual little stars in the Milky Way.
He counted and counted out of boredom, finally slumping onto his dad’s back as if deflated, and muttered: “Dad, I’m hungry…”
Boss Huo said: “Son, just persevere a little longer. We’re about to get out right away.”
Huo Dongdong said: “After we get out, does that mean we won’t be able to eat our fill?”
Xing Tian said with a laugh: “Silly child, although there aren’t many people outside, your dad definitely can’t let you starve to death.”
Huo Dongdong ignored him.
Xing Tian wasn’t annoyed either, and said with a grin: “What? Unhappy now?”
Huo Dongdong still ignored him.
Boss Huo apologized on his son’s behalf: “The little child isn’t very sensible…”
Xing Tian interrupted him: “It’s fine. Do I seem like the kind of person who would argue with a small child?”
Boss Huo offered a few placating words and then scolded Huo Dongdong a couple of times before letting the matter drop.
Huo Dongdong pouted and said no more.
A few minutes later, his stomach suddenly let out a loud “gurgle,” so loud that the several people nearby all heard it.
Liu Linlin suggested: “How about… we stop for a bit and let the child eat something?”
Boss Huo said: “Forget it… We’re about to get out right away…”
Shen Maomao furrowed her brows.
She felt that Boss Huo was, unavoidably, a little too anxious.
Ever since Huo Dongdong said he was hungry, he seemed to have become flustered, unable to wait to leave.
What? Could it be that when Huo Dongdong gets hungry, he eats people?
As soon as the words left his mouth, over there, Huo Dongdong’s stomach rumbled twice more.
But he didn’t say he was hungry again, just quietly rested his chin on his dad’s shoulder, like a poor little thing who had been wronged.
Boss Huo hardened his heart and said: “Let’s keep walking. Don’t delay everyone’s time.”
Since his own father had said so, it wasn’t good for the others to persuade him any further, so they could only continue to walk forward with their heads down.
As they walked and walked, the sky turned completely dark. On the surrounding wall, several pairs of eyes glowing with green light lit up, currently staring at them without blinking.
A dark cloud slowly drifted by, covering the bright moon in the sky. The maze was covered by the moon’s shadow, and a thick darkness enveloped them.
The several people who were walking stopped their steps at almost the same time, vigilantly shining their flashlights around everywhere.
The next second, everyone’s flashlights flickered twice, then abruptly went out.
Liu Linlin let out a cry of alarm: “It seems like there’s something!”
“Be careful,” Lou Jingmo reminded in a low voice.
As soon as the words fell, not far away, Boss Huo suddenly shouted: “Dongdong!”
Shen Maomao took out a lighter and lit it with a “click.” But the next second, a gust of wind from an unknown source directly blew out this weak cluster of light.
At the same time, her hand hurt. It was as if several needles had grown out from inside the lighter and fiercely stabbed into her palm, the pain causing her to suck in a sharp breath. The lighter slipped from her hand and fell into the snow, out of sight.
Lou Jingmo asked: “Are you alright?”
Shen Maomao: “I’m fine!”
Lou Jingmo: “I was asking Mr. Huo.”
Shen Maomao: “…” Fine.
Boss Huo said anxiously: “Dongdong was snatched away! What do we do!”
Xing Tian: “Grass8, we’re right before the exit, and they still pull this stunt!”
The sound of something breaking the air came through the air. Shen Maomao’s arm felt a chill, followed by a gritty and numbing pain—something had sliced open her clothes and skin!
In this pitch-blackness, they couldn’t even see their teammates who were right beside them. Where were they supposed to look for the thing that was attacking them?
And precisely because their teammates were close, it was unavoidable that they would bump into each other in the process of dodging, which was very inconvenient.
Shen Maomao had never missed Lou Jingmo’s 【Flash Blind】 as much as she did now. A flash blind was better than being wide-eyed blind, right?
She stretched out her arm, fumbling all around. After feeling around for a long time, she finally touched a slender, soft, and smooth wrist, with no ornaments worn on it.
It was Lou Jingmo.
She forcefully pressed Lou Jingmo into her own embrace.
Lou Jingmo struggled desperately.
Shen Maomao said: “Don’t be anxious… I will protect you!”
Lou Jingmo was so angry she rarely said a curse word: “Protect my ass! You’re too short! I’m going to be strangled to death by you!!”
Shen Maomao: “…” Break up. We’ll break up after we get out.
After several long minutes, the attack and the dark clouds receded together, leaving behind a complete mess on the ground and that round, crimson moon in the sky.
The maze was illuminated by a red light. Boss Huo sat in a pile of snow, bearing quite a few injuries on his body, staring blankly at his own hands, while Huo Dongdong, who was originally on his back, was now gone without a trace.
His9 eyes were bright red. Enduring the pain, he scrambled up with a start and shouted at the empty maze behind him: “Dongdong?!”
From the end of the sky came a child’s cry: “Dad!”
Boss Huo lifted his legs and ran in that direction. The several people behind him reacted and hurriedly followed.
Liu Linlin asked Chai Jinhang: “Are we going to help?”
Chai Jinhang hesitated for a second.
Before, when he took the initiative to help, it was simply because the situation at the time didn’t permit escape, but now this matter didn’t have much to do with them… besides, the exit was right before their eyes…
He looked towards Xing Tian.
Xing Tian folded his arms, watching their departing backs, then looked at the surrounding wall that was right before his eyes, and said in a deep voice: “We’re getting out.”
The author has something to say:
Regarding the matter of selfish characters who hold others back all being female in order to contrast with the males, I’ll make an explanation _(??`」 ∠)_ I feel Liu Linlin’s reaction was quite normal. I didn’t consider this point when writing; I just felt that some among women would be a bit more timid, and Chai Jinhang didn’t choose to stay behind purely because of the life-saving grace, it was more because he was afraid these few people wouldn’t be able to hold on, and running away would be for nothing. There are also men in the text who are not positive characters, for example, a certain10 Yun, a certain Guan, and many other cannon fodder11. Of course, there are also women with positive character settings: the female tutor, Su Han, the Mama Card, etc. In a grand setting like this, selfishness is normal. It’s like this regardless of gender; there was no intention of using one gender to contrast with another gender _(:з」∠)_
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